Introduction - Buenos Aires and the Best of Argentina - page 31

mately led to the increased appeal of the
Peronist party, the Justicialistas . Their candi-
date, Carlos Saul Menem , led a campaign
designed to appeal to the traditional supporters
of the Peronistas, the poor and the working
class. He was elected president in 1989.

With the economy crumbling, Alfonsín stepped
down five months early. Menem, cultivating
both his playboy image (with appearances on
the racetrack and basketball court) and a free
market economy, began an economic program
of privatization of inefficient government
industries combined with wage-price pacts
between labor, business and government.
Though times were tough in the beginning, the
economic success of his programs is apparent
and at this writing the Argentine economy is
vastly improved. After overturning a law which
allowed him to serve only one six-year term,
Menem ran for and was elected to his second
term as President in 1995.
The Population
Who are the Argentineans of today? They are
the descendants of the Spanish colonists and of
Sicilian farmers, Portuguese sailors, British
adventurers, Greek traders and Lebanese mer-
chants. They may be refugees from a war-
ridden land or the privileged heirs of a cattle
empire. Their immigrant experience is the his-
tory of Argentina, as it has been of all the Amer-
icas. The doors were open, the country was ripe

For a more
detailed discus-
sion of inflation
and the local
currency, see
Money Matters ,
page 12.